my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Operations   » Film Handlers' Forum   » Frames or cells?

Author Topic: Frames or cells? Peter Mork Expert Film Handler Posts: 181 From: Newton, MA, USA Registered: Jun 2002 posted 09-23-2005 01:46 AM                     I don't usually go in for finger-wagging, but... Twice in the last week I've seen the word "cells" used on this board to mean frames of film. quote: Whoever had that Dr. No print last most probably was an Ebay cell chopper. quote: Splicing together black cells [title of thread] Is this legit? Never heard it used like that before. I did some searching and found the word "cells" is being employed by what I'm guessing is a recent cottage industry - selling mounted strips of 35mm film as movie memorabilia. Perhaps they adopted the word from "cels" (spelled that way): animation drawings painted on celluoid, which have been marketed for years. Just a hunch, but if that's where it comes from, I vote we banish it from here! Or am I wrong and has the word got respectable parentage?  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 09-23-2005 05:13 AM                        You are correct. Louis  |  IP: Logged Mitchell Dvoskin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1869 From: West Milford, NJ, USA Registered: Jan 2001 posted 09-23-2005 08:57 AM                     Cells are paintings on acitate used to make cartoons. Frames are the individual pictures on a roll of film.  |  IP: Logged Heath Dutton Film Handler Posts: 37 From: Montgomery, Alabama / United States of America Registered: Jul 2005 posted 09-23-2005 11:05 AM                     I agree... We put criminals in "cells", we get cancer from using "cells", bacteria are made up of "cells", battery acid leaks from "cells"... But FRAMES... they keep our houses together, protect our family photos and they are spelled the way they sound! frames > cells  |  IP: Logged John Hawkinson Film God Posts: 2273 From: Cambridge, MA, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 09-23-2005 08:55 PM                     Furthermore, the preferred spelling for an animation cel is "cel," not "cell" (but if you go by the dictionary, "cell" is ok; many disagree). --jhawk  |  IP: Logged Wayne Keyser Master Film Handler Posts: 272 From: Arlington, Virginia, USA Registered: May 2004 posted 09-23-2005 10:55 PM                     A slight aside: does anybody else snicker at the inflated prices people pay for Disney "sericels"? These are not used-in-filming animation cels, but silkscreen prints on cel-like plastic sheets. I love the description of their creation onb the "cartoon-factory.com" site: "In keeping with the original animation technique, the paint is applied to the back side of the cels. As each color is applied, the image comes to life, capturing your favorite characters in an affordable, limited edition serigraph artwork." In other words, they print 'em just like your favorite T-shirt is printed! And they want $295 for one printed "in an edition of 2,500" and [gasp] $1650 for one from a "limited edition of 500"!! Other cels are printed by the fine art of "Giclée" - that means they run 'em off on a computer printer! "Four precision nozzles spray up to a million microscopic droplets per second on to fine art paper." I get my favorite silk-screen-prints from www.tshirthell.com for a lot less.  |  IP: Logged Olivia Coleman Film Handler Posts: 53 From: Bend, OR USA Registered: Jun 2005 posted 09-24-2005 01:47 AM                        quote: Wayne Keyser Other cels are printed by the fine art of "Giclée" - that means they run 'em off on a computer printer! "Four precision nozzles spray up to a million microscopic droplets per second on to fine art paper." Would that be a lithograph???  |  IP: Logged Wayne Keyser Master Film Handler Posts: 272 From: Arlington, Virginia, USA Registered: May 2004 posted 09-24-2005 02:18 AM                     No, not the "fake cels." But the backgrounds they're matted with are lithographed. You know, like those incredibly valuable posters by Toulouse-Lautrec. And your daily newspaper.  |  IP: Logged Olivia Coleman Film Handler Posts: 53 From: Bend, OR USA Registered: Jun 2005 posted 09-24-2005 02:22 AM                        Ok, I was just wondering as I have 3 lithographs of artwork for 3 different Dreamworks films... Still learning things out there....  |  IP: Logged Peter Mork Expert Film Handler Posts: 181 From: Newton, MA, USA Registered: Jun 2002 posted 09-24-2005 03:21 AM                     I have a for-real, honest-to-God cel from "101 Dalmatians". My parents bought it at Disneyland in the 60s - I think they paid $4 for it.  |  IP: Logged Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 09-24-2005 01:10 PM                        When I was a kid growing up in Hollywood in the early '60s my stepdad at the time brought home several production cels from Hanna Barbera, which were hung on the walls in my room. Wonder where those went? They're probably worth a fortune to some collector these days. Studio Ghibli in Japan has followed Disney's lead and gotten into selling limited-edition cel and background sets of scenes from their most popular titles. Very pricey--definitely out of my league. Actual Ghibli production cels were hard to come by since they would have to be snuck out of the studio by a staffer, or given as gifts to friends or associates. And now of course there are no production cels at all since Ghibli switched over to scanning the drawings directly to computer for ink & paint and cleanup. The two monsterous multi-plane cameras in the basement at the studio are now used only for some background photography. I make do collecting the next best thing--theatre posters and art books and 35mm trailers (actually only one so far) and strips of frames from 35mm prints. No I'm not a 'cell chopper' nor would I ever buy from one. These strips of frames come from the studio's art museum in Mitaka in the western suburbs of Tokyo, and are used as admission tickets. [ 10-27-2005, 01:54 PM: Message edited by: Paul Mayer ]  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

Printer-friendly view of this topic

Hop To: Select a Forum: Category: Operations -------------------- Digital Cinema Forum Film Handlers' Forum Large Format Forum Ground Level Feature Info, Trailer Attachments & REAL Credit Offsets Category: Community -------------------- Film-Yak Film Handlers' Movie Reviews The Afterlife Bob Maar's Joke-A-Thon Category: Classified -------------------- Equipment and Supplies Wanted/For Sale Help Wanted/Seeking Employment Category: System -------------------- Software Beta Testing Forum

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.